Five University of Maryland students investigate the negative effects of the Keystone Pipeline implementation

XL Dissent

Hey everybody, my name is Kevin Gomez, a junior Communications major from New Jersey attending the University of Maryland. To start off, I like some of you readers, did not know very much about the Keystone XL Pipeline Project when I started writing the blog. After further research, I have found that implementing the pipeline would cause more harm than good to the citizens of the United States. This is due to the increase in greenhouse emissions the pipeline will give off, and the fear of a possible oil spill that could prove harmful for the terrain that the pipeline would run through.

Now that we have gotten my point out of the way, my goal for this blog is to provide the arguments for both parties in the debate about the Keystone XL project. I hope that you the reader, will take the evidence provided to you in order to make your own educated judgement on the matter. With that said, after following my future posts, I hope that you all will be more informed about the project, and why it would be so devastating for our country to allow.

Hi everybody, my name is Allyson Gruber. I am a junior management and communications major at the University of Maryland, and originally came from New Jersey.

When I learned about the Keystone Pipeline XL project, I was immediately drawn to the cause because of the impact it will have on the environment. Entire communities will be affected by toxic emissions from the pipeline. These emissions will contaminate the air, and even local water sources. This will increase illness, in areas where people cannot always afford to seek medical attention. People will develop breathing problems, and sometimes it may even cause cancer. None of these people deserve to have their area desolated by the government.

We hope that by creating this blog, we can educate people on why the Keystone Pipeline XL should not be continued forward. Until next time lovely readers!

Hi, everyone! My name is Hannah Rosenberg and I’m a junior Communication major from Silver Spring, MD. This is a picture of my left cheek repping an anti-Keystone XL Pipeline sticker at a recent protest. Want to know how I got here? Read my story:

On March 2, I headed to Georgetown University via the Metro (and cabbed the extra 3 miles from Foggy Bottom) to join a group numbering upwards of 1000 in protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline. I’d never been to an environmental action. Students- my own age- had organized and brought this to life.

Coming in, my exposure to the facts fit into one of three categories: news coverage, youtube videos or conversations with my friends and family. When we reached Lafayette Square, I added a forth category. Speeches were made that invoked every emotion from anger, to passion to fear. Besides the environmental devastation that would be brought on by the pipeline’s installment, what really struck me was the type of communities that would be affected.

One protestor’s sign read, “The people affected by the pipeline can’t afford to be here.” I feel with complete conviction that this pipeline wouldn’t even be considered if the communities it ran through were filled with affluent, wealthy people. It’s infuriating to think that our President, our Government would allow this to pass because it can. Because the people who are affected don’t have the influence to stop it. They need to be heard, and quickly! This issue is actively unfolding, so it can’t wait. Consider signing the petition below to convince President Obama to go speak to the people of Nebraska–one of the states that Keystone XL’s would run right through. Even if you’re not sure exactly how you feel about this issue, the people who will experience the most immediate effects, the people who are already experiencing the effects, do, so let them be heard. Here’s the link: http://boldnebraska.org/obama